The first footage ever taken of a live ruby sea dragon just solved a big mystery

In 2015, scientists at Scripps Oceanography stunned the oceanography community by announcing a new species of sea dragon, colloquially known as the ruby sea dragon.

Then, in 2016, they spotted a live ruby sea dragon in the wild for the first time. Now, the team has released that rare footage, which reveals something peculiar: the rub sea dragon is missing those iconic leafy appendages found on the only other two species of sea dragon know to exist.